Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

N HRA Winston Drag R a c in g Series R o u n d 1 4 : Pomona Raceway IYtJmCIJDCE By K EVIN M cK EN NA POMONA, CA, NOV, 9-12 t was the k ind of storybook endi ng that T ony Mull en h ad dr eam ed abo ut. In his last NHRA event as the rider of Harry La rt igue 's Ma ll .com Suzuki, Mull en grabbed his second ca reer vi ctory at the season -end ing NHRA F in a l s at Pomona Ra ce wa y , end ing a frustrating str ing o f f our c onsecuti ve runner-up fin ish es and several oth er near m isses . "This was my last NHRA rac e w ith Harry," Mull en said minutes after fo rmer NHRA c ha m p Matt Hines red li ghted in th e Pomona Pro Stock B ik e fina l. " We' re going to run the ProStar race in Ga in esville next week end and then tha t's it. I' ve been here for three y ears but it' s time to m ove on . Harry and I are still the best of fr ie nds , and I cou ld ne ver rep ay h im fo r all h e ' s d one for me, but Harry 's strength has always been in tra ining new rid ers , and that' s th e d irection he wants to D go in ." Earlier in the we ekend , Lart ig ue announced th at San A nton io, T exasb a sed a mate ur Peggy Ll e w ell yn woul d m ak e th e move t o Pro Stock B ik e an d rid e his entry in the 2001 seaso n, c o nf irm ing w hat m any had ex pecte d for months. "All I w an t ed to do this year was give Harry a win ," Mullen sa id . " It t ook un ti l th e last race o f th e year, but I'm g lad we were ab le to d o it. After two pole pos it ions and four run ner -up fi n is hes , I figured tha t it wa s about tim e. Thi s is t o o g ood t o be tr ue." In o rder to win his first event since the 1999 Matco T oo ls Su pern at ion al s more th an a ye ar ago , Mullen had to o v er c om e lo n g o d d s and som e untimel y mechanical brea kag e. Fol lowing h is round -one w in o v er J o e DeSantis, Mull en and Lartigue d iscov ered a d ead cyl ind er on th eir Free dom Mot orsp orts -built Suzuk i eng in e. " One cyl inder was lea king 80 pe rcent , an d w e had no t im e to get it fix ed o r t o chan ge eng in es," M ullen sa id . " Ha rry j ust tried to nurse it as best he cou ld and hope tha t it stayed tog ether long enough to m ak e th e final. He made a lot of chang es dur ing elim inations , and ev en t houg h it was hurt, he m anaged to g et som e respe ctable numbers out of th e b ik e." After qua lifying fourth in th e 16 b ik e fi eld w ith 7 .25 , Mullen stay ed consistent w ith a 7 .2 6 in round one . By the seco nd round , Mullen slow ed to a 7 .3 2 , but still had eno ugh power to get around T eam O akl ey 's Shawn Ga nn, who foul ed an d then slowed to a 7.41. In th e sem ifin als , Mullen c a u g ht another huge break when J ohn Smith go t d istr act ed on the st arting line and champ ion. Se el ing , who j oined Top Fuel l eg en d S h irl ey Muldowney as NHRA 's o n ly f em al e p rofess ional cha m pion , ha d gone all y ear without a red -light start , but fou led out in round two against Sm ith . " I h ated th e seas on to end that wa y , but we ac c omp lished what we set o ut t o d o , wh i ch wa s win th e champ ionsh ip fo r W inston, St ar Rac ing, and Suzuk i ," Seeling sai d . " I' m j ust glad that th e pr essure wa s off m e this week end . I was able t o rel ax and ha ve some fun." With Seeling on the sidelines, Hines appe ared t o hav e an easy path to the fi nal, es pec ially aft er r unn ing the q uickest ela psed tim e of th e weekend in round two with a 7 . 16. Hines perfo rm ance was j ust .03 -seco nds slower th an th e qu ic ke st run in th e history of t he cl a ss, whic h he set earlier th is year in Eng lishtown , New Jersey . In the se m ifinals , Hin es d o wn ed Mullen 's T eam 23 teammat e An tron Br own in one of th e best side -by-side races of the weekend . Hines got to th e fi ni sh line first by just one hundredth o f a se cond , with a 7. 24 t o 7.25 win . W i th a s i g ni f ic a n t p e rfo rmance ad vantage in his favor, th ere was no nee d for Hin es to g am ble in th e final ro und, but he du m ped th e clutch too soo n and red-lighted , a llo wing Mullen to tak e th e wi n with a 7.28. " A nybody in his right mind had to think that Matt was goi ng to bea t m e in the final , but to tell you the truth , I wasn 't surprised to see him red -Iiqht," Mullen said . " He was cutting it close all day and since it was starting to get dark, I w as afraid of red -lighti ng myself. John [Smith] had me beat in the sem is and Matt should ha ve beat en me in the fi nal, but ou r team held together. Be for e th e fi nal, Harry told me to just go up and d o th e best I coul d and hope that Matt m ad e the first m ista ke , w h ic h is how it happened . "T here ha ve been a lot of rumors g o ing around abo u t m e, and esp eci a l l y our s p o n so r , [Philadelphia Eagles co rne r b ack ] Tro y Vincent," Mullen sa id . "I t hi n k that Troy st ill wants t o h ave tw o b ikes next year, and I definit el y want to co nti nue rac ing for him , but righ t now, he's very busy with football. I'm sure at some poi nt we will sit down and di scu ss our fu ture, but whether it 's w ith T roy or wi th so meone else , I p lan o n bein g eN o ut here next year. " In his last race as the rider of Hany Lartl9ue's Te a m 2 3 /Mall.co m Suzu k i , T o ny Mullen delivered a s olid performance t o claim his second career v ictory, and his first since the end of the 1999 season, at the NHRA Fi nals in Pomona , Ca lif o m l a. h ad a h o r ribl y l ate reacti on t im e aboa rd Dave Schultz's Sunoco Suzu k i. Smith actually outran Mull en by .0 8 -sec ond , but Mullen got to th e fin ish li ne fi rst thanks to a react ion time that was more than two -te nths of a sec ond quicker. "I let th e glare from th e settin g sun get to m e and lo st my focu s," Smith sai d. " It was a roo kie mi s t a k e . I sho ul d h av e k now n b ett er. It' s too bad because we were going to m ak e a rea lly n ic e run . Acco rd ing t o o u r co m p ut er, I shut th e bike off 6.5 -sec onds into th e run and I st ill went a 7 .29 at o n l y 165 -mph . That run shou ld eas il y h av e been a 7 .24 or 7.25 , which probabl y wo u l d h a v e been enough to run this rac e." Sm ith once aga in filled in for six tim e Winston c ha m p D ave Sc hultz, who c onti n ues to underg o treat m ent for colon ca ncer. The battle for th e N HRA Nationa l C ha m pio ns hi p i n Pro St o c k B ik e ended two wee ks before the Pomo na race in Housto n , w here T eam Win ston 's Angelle Seel ing e nded Matt Hines ' three -year re ign as class c ue I e n Pomona Raceway Pomona, Califomia Results : November 9- 12, 2000 [Round 14 01 141 PRO STOC K FINAL: I. Tony Mullen (So2) 7.28. 179.83. 2. Matt Hines (Suz) 7.34 . \66.1 \ (FOOL) . e vv s • N O V EM BER 29. 2000 27

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